In the past, various types of devices have been suggested for use to transport bicycles, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles (hereinafter ATV) and the like. These devices have either been mounted on a side of a transport vehicle or in a trailer or alternatively coupled in some fashion to a truck bed or a trailer bed. According to the numerous disclosures of such transport devices, inevitably the devices appear to be quite complex and purport to offer advantages of various kinds.
In an exemplary disclosure to Schilling, U.S. Pat. No. 6,705,820, the transportation device is a carrier/lift for a truck bed. According to Schilling, the carrier/lift comprises a platform having a recess for storage of nest able loading ramps. Furthermore, the ramp can be stored above the floor of a truck bed to provide usable storage space in the truck between the platform, with the nested ramps stowed therein, and the floor of the truck bed. Schilling's lift/carrier depends on a substantially large platform that may carry and lift the entire ATV, which may be driven up the nested ramps, which may then be stored. Furthermore, Schilling discloses that the platform requires a pivoting movement of the platform about an axis of a transverse beam along a pair of longitudinal tracks to provide a pivoting and translating motion of the platform that facilitates loading, carrying and uploading a small vehicle (such as an ATV) in the bed of the truck. Additionally, wheel chocks may be attached to the platform for positioning and securing the ATV (or small vehicle) in the carrying position. Simply put, the Schilling carrier/lift has a complex mechanism to lift the platform once an ATV is driven up the ramps or once the ATV is hoisted onto the platform. While it is clear that such a device may have certain advantages, the economic cost of construction of this lift/carrier may be rather high, while the use of moving parts may lead to significant mechanical breakdowns in the course of time for a consumer.
In yet another exemplary disclosure, Widdowson, U.S. Pat. No. 6,752,574, the transportation device enables the tailgate of a short bed pickup truck to remain closed. Evidently, according to Widdowson, transportation devices of the kind disclosed are unable to accommodate an ATV or motorcycle in the bed of such a transport vehicle and as evidenced by Schilling above a platform is used to raise the ATV above the truck bed instead. Widdowson discloses a complicated method for placing an ATV onto a truck bed. In the Widdowson approach, the ATV is placed into a cargo box with a rear portion of the ATV protruding past an open end of the cargo box. Furthermore, a support is positioned into the cargo box adjacent to the open end of the cargo box and the rear portion of the ATV is lifted onto the support until the rear portion is elevated sufficiently to provide clearance to enable the open end to be closed by the tailgate. However, Widdowson depends on the cargo box which contains the ATV (in the case disclosed by Widdowson this is a motorcycle or a snowmobile) being separately lifted onto the truck bed. Widdowson takes no advantage of the mechanical advantage of the motorcycle's motor and of course cannot do so for a snowmobile. Furthermore, the cargo box disclosed by Widdowson is a cumbersome proxy for access to a support, which acts as a “lift”. Clearly, whenever a consumer desired to transport the ATV, the consumer would have to access an exterior lift whether the consumer wished to place the ATV on the truck bed or to remove the ATV from the truck bed. Whenever the consumer did not have access to such a “lift” the Widdowson disclosure would be encumbered.
As of the time of the current disclosure, many other types of apparatus and methods have been proposed, but as demonstrated in the above-mentioned disclosure, all of such disclosures appear to exhibit economic or mechanically difficult deficiencies. Thus there appears to be a need to provide improved systems, apparatus and methods for efficiently and economically transporting any type of recreational vehicle including without limitation motorcycles, snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles and the like.